by Redazione 27/10/2026
Categories: Modern Art / Disclaimer
A bust by Bertel Thorvaldsen has been added to the collections of the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. The marble sculpture depicts Rosa Taddei, an Italian actress and poet known for her improvised verse. Created in Rome in 1826, the work was sold by the Rome-based gallery Carlo Virgilio & C.
The Getty Museum in Los Angeles has acquired a marble bust depicting Rosa Taddei (Trento, 1799 – Rome, 1869), an Italian actress and poetess portrayed in 1826 by the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen (Copenhagen, 1770–1844). The work, previously exhibited by the Carlo Virgilio & C. Gallery in Rome at an edition of the TEFAF art fair in Maastricht, is the only known marble version of the portrait: a preparatory plaster model is housed at the Thorvaldsen Museum in Copenhagen.
Born in 1799, Taddei was known for her improvisational skills. During her performances, she would ask the audience to suggest themes and ideas, then compose verses on the spot. The poet and the sculptor knew each other personally; according to an anecdote, during a performance Taddei reportedly embarrassed Thorvaldsen with her particularly effusive praise.
The portrait, however, conveys a composed and serene image of the young woman, then twenty-seven years old. Her upright posture, forward-looking gaze, defined eyes, and slight smile contribute to a controlled expression, in contrast to the liveliness of the performances attributed to the model. Her finely sculpted hair frames a face with well-defined features, including an aquiline nose and a rounded chin. The square base, the drapery of the tunic, and the medallion reflect Thorvaldsen’s interest in classical art.
In European sculpture of the early decades of the nineteenth century, Thorvaldsen was the leading exponent, alongside Antonio Canova, of Neoclassical sculpture. The critical acclaim of the two artists would, however, wane over the course of the following century, when some modernist critics interpreted the Neoclassical style as a sentimental imitation of the art of the past. The subsequent historiographical revival has helped to reevaluate the role of the Neoclassicists in the development of modern art. A significant milestone in this reinterpretation was the exhibition dedicated to Canova and Thorvaldsen in Milan in 2019.
In the United States, some of Thorvaldsen’s works have enjoyed particular popularity even outside of museums. In the 1930s, media magnate William Randolph Hearst purchased two statues of Venus—one by the Danish sculptor and one by Canova—and displayed them together at his residence in San Simeon, California. Thorvaldsen’s *Christus* has enjoyed even wider dissemination: a monumental replica was commissioned in 1939 for Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale and installed in 1947; in the 1950s, the Mormon Church in turn commissioned copies for Salt Lake City and other temples. The Getty’s acquisition enriches the sculptor’s presence in U.S. collections, where his original works are relatively rare. Rosa Taddei’s bust will engage in a dialogue with the museum’s international selection of neoclassical sculpture and with Danish paintings by Christen Købke and Vilhelm Hammershøi.
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| A bust by Bertel Thorvaldsen purchased by the Getty Museum: it was sold by a Roman gallery |
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